E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSThe father of a 6-year-old Isabel Celis, who vanished just over three weeks ago, has now been barred from having contact with his two other children. NBC's Miguel Almaguer reports.
PHOENIX - Tucson police on Monday released recordings of 911 calls reporting the disappearance of Arizona 6-year-old Isabel Celis, who authorities said may have been snatched from her bed last month.
The high-profile search for hazel-eyed Isabel, who was reported missing on April 21 from the home she shared with her older brothers and both parents, drew national media attention as volunteers and police combed streets in her middle class Tucson neighborhood looking for her.
In the audio recording, Isabel's father, Sergio Celis, calmly tells the operator he wants to "to report a missing person. My little girl who's 6-years-old. I believe she was abducted from our house."
Dad asked to stay away from missing Tucson girl's brothers
The second 911 was placed by Isabel's mother, Rebecca. The audio of the call and a transcript were posted by NBC News affiliate in Tuscon, KVOA.com.
Rebecca: Hello?
Dispatcher: Hello ma'am are you the mom?
Rebecca: Yes.
Dispatcher: Okay, what is your name?
Rebecca: My name is Rebecca Celis. C-E-L-I-S
Dispatcher: Okay, anything else you remember she was wearing and her hair?
Rebecca: Her hair is in braids. It's in little ponytails. I made little ponytails on her head last night before she went to bed.Dispatcher: So who, noticed her gone, your husband?
Rebecca: My husband, I went to work this morning at seven and um, I just, and I didn't even come and check on her, I should have come and checked on her.
Dispatcher: Okay, now you looked everywhere, under the beds, the closets, everything?
Rebecca: Yeah, I looked everywhere, I even looked _______— (inaudible) the windows out of our house. Somebody took the window out of our house.
Earlier on Monday, police said Isabel's two elder brothers had been placed in the sole care of their mother over concerns for their welfare.
More recordings at NBC News affiliate in Tuscon, KVOA.com
Tucson Police Chief Roberto Villasenor said the girl's father, Sergio Celis, had agreed not to have any contact with his sons, who are now in the care of their mother, Rebecca Celis.
Villasenor told reporters at a news conference that Sergio Celis had entered a voluntary agreement with Child Protective Services to stay away from the children, but declined to elaborate.
"Child Protective Services said that this would be the best scenario at this point," he said. The police chief did not give the boys' ages or names.
The girl's parents have told police Isabel was last seen when she was put to bed on the night of April 20. The family awoke the next morning to find her bed empty. Authorities said a window to the girl's ground-floor room was open, and a screen was missing.
Police have said they are treating the girl's disappearance as a "possible abduction," but have yet to rule anyone out as a suspect.
1,000 tips from the public
In a news release on Friday, Tucson police said they had been in contact with Child Protective Services after becoming aware of "information regarding the welfare of the older Celis children," but did not elaborate.
Several days after Isabel vanished, Sergio and Rebecca Celis made a tearful public appeal for her safe return, pleading with their daughter's presumed abductors to "tell us what you want."
After making their brief, anguished appeal, they hugged volunteers who helped in a search for their missing daughter, then walked away without fielding questions from the media.
During the search in recent weeks, Villasenor said police have received more than 1,000 tips from the public. Police have also canvassed homes in a 3-mile radius of the girl's home and searched the Celis house using sniffer dogs.
Reuters contributed to this report.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News:
Leave a Comment:
I can understand parents being separated from their children so testimony is not discussed or changed. There must be a reason authorities have separated the boys from their father and are being allowed to be with their mother. It is hard to understand, but many times parents are responsible for missing children and the crimes done to them. I hope this is not the case and hope police find little Isabel.
"Hanks Common Sense" YOU ARE AN A$$!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just because they are of Mexican decent DOES NOT mean they are illegal. Your common sense is up your A$$!
Hank has issues that no god can heal.
I would not want to be blaming the wrong person. My heart goes out to this little girl, may God keep his focus on her and may he keep her safe. All of us should keep her in our prayers.
I sense there is much more that every member of this family has not come clean about, with all of us. These people live close to me, though I do not know or have I ever met them. I cannot imagine being so calm when calling 911 with "my child missing", and chuckling to the questions. In the first TV interview I told my wife that he (Dad) was manufacturing his emotions. The truth will prevail in this but, I pray it is not too late for little Isabel. May God be with you child.
Sad to say...but with CPS involved things are sure to get all F&%KED up...hope they find her...Father is involved in some manner.
Oh my goodness... What the hell is wrong with people... I dont understand why someone would want to take or even hurt a child. My heart breaks for her mother. I pray that she is okay and found soon.
meth can turn any good person into a demon
Is it a possibility that someone could be kidnapping children from state to state?? Where is the missing boy Kyron or the missing little girl Lisa from Missouri. She was missing from her bedroom window too... Now this little girl is missing. Is this not considered an option? A serial kidnapper?
If I live to be 150, I will never understand the reasoning behind the abduction, torture and killing of innocent children. I hope that this little girl is found safe and sound, but it looks doubtful after all this time. There is an evil worse than cancer in those who vent their anger, frustration, sexual inadequacies and other perversities on children and these people need to be eradicated from the face of the earth when they are caught.
The outlook isn't promising for this little angel. I do hope she is found alive, but time is of the essence. The glass is usually half full for me, but I'm more inclined to hope that whatever happened to her went very quickly with the least anguish for her as possible.
Monsters who prey on our vulnerable populaces should just be killed.
The father's concern is fake! The police know hes involved.
the time to act is Now...
close your eyes, relax, and try to imagine where she is
we'll find her
This father is about the most innocent looking man I've seen in these types of cases recently. So for me it is hard to believe he did anything. But the dog is either old, under fed or mistreated. Perhaps they should take a good hard look at those dogs. Have them examined. And if they have been beaten - this man may have a very violent side to him. Dogs bark unless they are afraid to bark. So, the police should look into this.
If they exclude the father, then it may have been possible that an adult male used a child or teen to get into the bedroom. If she knew the person she would have gone quietly. Like it was a game. Someone Isa knew. And maybe told her not to yell when they came for her. Told her it was a game. A tall skinny man or teenager broke in. But who knows what was waiting outside.
"Common Practice" my eye!. Who does Villasenor think he's doing his press conferences in front of?, a bunch of idiots?. Investigator's have something from the 1000 tips they have received in order to involve CPS. And it's very possible that those tips have come from several different sources and have corroborated one another. I would not be a bit surprised if some of these tips were not from friends and or relatives of the family. They could be as simple as "observations" made at family get togethers, or things overheard while visiting with the family. Some of these Investigator's are seasoned veteran's with 20 or more years doing what they do. They have developed a keen sense when someone is lying.
The father is in someway involved..directly or indirectly. He has been lying the whole time. He was seperated from the family because the detectives want seperate testimonies without him intimidating the boys or mom. I believe Isabel left the earth before leaving that house. sorry....But Im wondering, if the family went to bed at 11pm. and Sergio is responsible, wouldn't Becky know if he left the house between 11pm and the time she went to work? idk
The media has already convicted the girl's father. Last night and this morning the TV tabloids, HLN, CNN, etc were full of comments to that effect. Saying the girl's father was laughing when talking to the police dispatcher. This will be another Travon situation. The old man may well be guilty, but the "super-sleuth's" on TV don't need to make a guessing game of it.
Praying for Little Isabel.
This is such a sad story, but as a parent I worry everything about intruders. That is just the kind of society that we live in. My master bedroom is in the back of my house with my little girls room is closest to the front door, and it's scary to think that someone might come in and I won't hear a thing. The best thing to do is to install an alarm system, and I let my dog loose inside the house. (she barks at everything)